Upsets at halfway point
Gippsland and West Gippsland leagues reached the halfway stage of their home and away seasons on Saturday while Ellinbank and District and Mid Gippsland had a “holiday” for the long weekend. The round was a generally competitive one in Gippsland League although favoured sides came out on top but there were a couple of upsets in West Gippsland. None was bigger than previously unbeaten Inverloch-Kongwak’s loss to Phillip Island after it had kicked 3-5 to the Island’s single point in the first quarter. The contest then changed dramatically. The Bulldogs came back strongly to lead by eight points at half time and stretching it to 26 points at three-quarter time as the ladder leader added only five goals to their first quarter score. Cora Lynn kept its finals’ hopes well and truly alive and is the only realistic challenger to the current top five. It trounced Garfield, that has slipped to fifth position on the ladder, by 68 points with Jackson Dalton kicking six goals in a best on the ground performance. Nar Nar Goon and Koo wee rup are one win behind Inverloch-Kongwak after strong wins, as expected, against Dalyston and Kilcunda-Bass respectively. After leading eight goals to one at half time Nar Nar Goon slammed on another nine goals in the third term as it marched to a percentage boosting 133-point win with Tom Doraston (five goals) and Matthew Stevens (four) heading a list of 10 goalkickers. Koo wee rup’s 7-3 to 0-1 first quarter set up its eventual 18-10 to 5-9 defeat of Kilcunda-Bass. Korumburra-Bena and Bunyip each had one win for the season prior to Saturday and it was Korumburra, at home, that took the points getting in control of the match in the second half. The most telling match of the Gippsland league round was at Bairnsdale. The match against Warragul pitted two sides still in contention to push for the “five” in the second half of the season, the loser more than likely to slip from the race. Warragul didn’t handle the trip well and were put on the back foot in the early stages of the game. The Gulls never recovered to eventually go down by 39 points. The margin was the largest in the round. After an inaccurate first half in which it trailed by one point undefeated Maffra eventually found target to defeat Moe 25 points. Traralgon got over Morwell by 27 points, the same lead it held at half time, and in a battle between second a third placed Sale and Leongatha it was Leongatha that took the points 14-10 to 12-11. The closest match was at Wonthaggi where the home side won a low-scoring match against Drouin scoring 9-8 to 7-8. Mid Gippsland and Ellinbank leagues will resume normal business next weekend while West Gippsland and Gippsland begin their homeward runs.